Ruben Amaro is a man who likes to give 35-year old players two year deals with obtainable vesting options. So it should come as no real surprise that Ruben Amaro is overvaluing his players and doesn’t want to sell.

The problem you have in this situation is that you have the GM who signed these bad contracts and/or waited too long to trade these players and now their values have declined; he isn’t necessarily looking out for the franchises best interests in trades, but looking out for his own, in terms of salvaging his reputation, in hopes of keeping his job, or looking good in preparation of his next one.

Generally, it helps with firesales when the GM who got them in the mess isn’t the one in charge of getting them out of it.

As long as RAJ is in charge as GM, the Phillies won’t make a trade of any consequence. In reality, half the roster needs to go. RAJ won’t do it because it would be an admission he screwed up. This is the guy who said Ryan Howard will be the starting 1B next year when he’s already a replacement level player.

There are still a few days left, and in the cases of the large contracts, there is more than a month left to make deals. Then, there’s the postseason. I’d give this issue more time before symbolically drawing and quartering Amaro or anybody else.

I wonder if the ownership group would prefer that a new GM work out deals in the off-season. Two weeks ago it seemed as if it was an “everything must go” atmosphere, only to have it replaced with uncertainty. I’ve remarked before that the manager’s use of certain trade candidates has not enhanced their value either.

Admittedly, Amaro’s list of bad deals is substantial. But so is his list of good ones. Not everybody scores a Halladay or a Cliff Lee for mostly scrubs, and not everybody would have the balls to re-sign a second baseman with supposed bad knees who has since more than proven his value. Not everybody has the wherewithal to bring a HOF pitcher (Pedro Martinez) out of retirement for a stretch run, or trade a very popular outfielder (Pat Burrell) just before his numbers tanked.

its in amaro’s head that he has been burned in recent trades and literally got nothing in return. i think he is overvaluing and hoping he runs into another sucker to make up for past mistakes. i have a feeling the only guy traded at deadline will be bastardo and maybe a bench like player in brignac!

The question in the title is “Are the Phillies willing to sell?” I don’t think it’s about willingness. I’m willing to own a Land Rover, and an endless pool and a billion dollar mansion, but I don’t.

I think the real question is – “At what price are the Phillies willing to sell?”

And frankly, I don’t want them giving guys away for nothing. I’m not saying that they should not be in the situation, they made their bed and now have to sleep in it.

But they can’t win with the fans in this one, they just can’t. If they make very few moves because they held out for better offers, they are looked upon as a terrible FO, and if they make moves just to make them with very little return, they’ll get the same reaction.

Frankly, if it were me, I’d hold out for the best possible deal, and I hope that’s what they do as well.

I see where you are coming from, but I also think that fans will understand if they have a clear picture on what direction the team is willing to go. you hear alot about 3-5 years before team can be competitive again. i disagree, i think they can get back into it quicker than that. while howards contract is a sunk cost, there is no reason a competent GM shouldnt be able to fix this team with the type of payroll the phillies have!

Every rumor to date has been reported in part. Didn’t one of ’em come across with the proposed exact exchange. Finally, as of post game yesterday yesterday, we have an exact proposalon the table, and I’m sure Rube will execute it.

Ryan Howard, who pretty rightfully put baseball in perspective the other day, suggesting he’s an overall happy cat seemed to practice switch talking yesterday and eyed a reporter offering the trade proposal of the year. He asked if the guy/guyette wanted to trade places. I look forward to Rube batting clean up soooooon. After all, it would seem to come with the territory that federal law mandates that RyHo bat 4th, and there’s no reason Rube shouldn’t inherit the clause.

How a guy downplays baseball one day, and then 1 homerun and 2 starts later makes his position seem so challenging that he suggests wouldn’t nobody wanna trade places with him goes beyond my widest of scopes.

“So it should come as no real surprise that Ruben Amaro is overvaluing his players and doesn’t want to sell.”

It’s hard to assume the premise of this statement without knowing what offers Amaro has received. Plus, it may be that the sources behind those tweets are posturing for better negotiating position. Faced with the option of (1) trading players for whom there are no adequate replacements in exchange for org filler and salary relief, or (2) making no trades, I would choose the latter.

“Apparently, Sporting News and another sports magazine ranked Ruin as the worst GM in both leagues.”

The Phillies precipitous drop from Golden Age 2 to the biggest laughingstock in sport since another club sought Jason Kidd’s coaching services is still short of the mark of standard set by The Sporting News.

The publication formerly, and rightfully known as The Baseball Bible names Rube the worst GM in both leagues. Maybe tat’s the problem. He’s running an AL team, too, and the split duty has him overworked.

He might be the worst GM in the NL, he might be the worstest GM in baseball, but he ain’t no worst GM in both leagues. A physical impossibility.

And by the way, when Rube is named to the Hall of Fame, at his induction, you can bet your bottomest dollar that he won’t forget to speak just a passing mention of .300 Monty. What a disgraceful sign of senility by Joe Torre! No apology afterwards is gonna make up for that. Torre used the platform to nararrate WS highlights from many past years. At least Rube would have a shorter speech, if he followed that format.

Teams aren’t gaining traction in talks with the Phillies because they are most likely offering us crap like SF gave us for pence. I wouldn’t trade my pkayers for a bag of balls like every team is definitely offering.

Yes it is a great idea to drop some from this team. But it is not worth trading them just to trade them unless you have someone to fill that spot. I don’t like the idea of trading away Cole but if they get two major league ready players and a top prospect then I think you pull the trigger. Trading Byrd or even Pap just to show you are selling and get nothing makes no sense. This team is not a contender but they are better then they have played this year. I know I will get ridiculed for this bit I think Sandberg should be let go this off season. I’m not blaming him for the bad play but it does not feel to me like he has the players backing him

While I think there are worse GMs than Ruin, such as the D-Back’s Towers, I do not really have any faith in him at the deadline or the waiver deadline, for that matter. While Ruben is to blame for much of what has transpired, .300 Monty, and the front office, as well as our minor league system and scouts are just as guilty. Someone has to approve all of Ruben’s endless vesting options in the contracts he creates, someone is responsible for the fact that our farm system has not developed any home grown outfield talent outside of Pat Burrell. I don’t consider Dom Brown’s one or two month spree last year as a qualifier. What other home-grown offensive talent besides Utley, Howard, and Rollins have we produced? Right now, we only have Franco and Crawford, and that is indicative of the fact that all our minor league teams are well below .500. I realize that wins and losses are secondary to development, but they just seem to coincide with the barbers if our farm system offensively. While in previous posts, I was all for selling, the more I think about it, what can we truly sell and/or get in return? Our veterans are quickly declining, are owed an exorbitant amount of money, not valued to their decline, and they have too many vesting options that seem to be causing fits according to the various unnamed sources. Whether the contract options are truly the deal-breakers or the fact that we have overvalued the aging veterans, (Rollins contract is excluded here), it is going to be tough to sell, and, even if we do, the returns will be disappointing. It is going to be a long few years, but nothing us, as fans, haven’t been through before.